Kerns aplenty at hearing this week over control of Mardi Gras float empire

Goodwill may have been in short supply as the latest round of squabbling over control of Blaine Kern Artists Inc., the iconic float-making enterprise, played out this week at Civil District Court. But there was no lack of Kerns in the Division L courtroom for Wednesday's two-hour hearing.

Rusty Costanza/The Times-PicayuneBlaine Kern Sr., left, and his son, Barry, in October 2010 discuss an agreement they had just signed that handed control of the family float-making business to Barry Kern.

In addition to the litigants -- Blaine Kern Sr. and his son, Barry Kern, who have been feuding for more than a year over who should run the family business -- the elder Kern's wife, Holly Brown-Kern, watched the proceedings from the front row of the gallery.

Meanwhile, Judge Kern Reese presided over testimony, which centered on an October 2010 agreement in which Blaine Kern agreed to hand Barry his majority stake in the company and to reinstate him as president.

As the elder Kern's attorney, Leo Palazzo, prepared to cross-examine his client's son, he asked Reese if he could call Barry by his first name to avoid possible confusion over any reference to "Mr. Kern."

Agreeing to the informality, the judge mentioned that his own name might compound such a mix-up.

"We've got a couple of Kerns," he said. "We've got Blaine Kern. We've got Barry Kern. And we've got Kern Reese. We need to identify for the record which Kern we're talking about today."

Judge Kern Reese

Later, when Blaine Kern took the stand, the man who has referred to himself as Mr. Mardi Gras since he founded his float-building enterprise 55 years ago stated his full name for the record: Blaine Salvador Jude Kern Sr.

The introduction prompted the judge to reveal that his first name has long prompted his friends and associates around town to refer to him by the Mardi Gras mogul's moniker.